24,795 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening

In sort of depends on what you're after. If your goal is to get a tomato (as in, red, round, etc.) it really doesn't make any difference about lingo and terms. Whatever the nursery sells you will get you a tomato. Some way, some how. Their lack of understanding is sort of understandable in that regard. But if your goal is gardening tomatoes, the lingo becomes a lot more important. You want to understand how to optimize flavor and production. But there are many people out there who just want tomatoes, and don't really care how it happens. Of course, that's what a supermarket is for.

I went to a Tomato Festival several years ago. There was a lady there from our cooperative extension that had a tomato taste testing stand. I started asking her questions in regards as to whether this tomato was an heirloom or a hybrid or whether that tomato was determinate or indeterminate. She just looked at me blankly and said, "I just started working for the cooperative extension a few weeks ago."
~sigh~ You think they could have sent someone to a Tomato Festival that knew a little something about tomatoes.

Dave, thank you, I updated the information. I am in zone 6 (though not sure if i am A or B).
Are there any fungicides you can recommend? This is one I found on a search, and while I am sure you cannot know all details about every fungicide, is there any problem you can find with this one? http://www.amazon.com/Agra-Quest-Serenade-RTU-32/dp/B000FOMRUC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1434031872&sr=8-3&keywords=Serenade And is this 32oz enough for 4 tomato plants, or will I need more If i apply often for the next 3-4 months?
I pruned every leaf with septoria and pruned every leaf that was touching the soil. (I sure hope these plants still grow, there were quite a few leaves I pruned on one of the tomato plants)
I will be adding mulch to my garden tomorrow or this weekend. My garden is a raised bed and only 32 square feet, are there any bags of mulch that can be purchased, and if so, are there any kinds I should search for?

If you browse through all the discussions here on mulching the garden you'll find that straw or hay is the most commonly recommended, shredded leaves and pine straw are others. Wood chip mulch is far down the list as it can create nitrogen binding and decomp issues. But if that is all one has available it is far better than nothing. Just don't mix it in with the soil and keep it at least an inch or so back from the stem of the plant. All the details are in many of the previous discussions so i won't retype it all here.
Fungicides - again 100s of discussions here and on the tomato forum about them the search will pull up. So some research is required. Daconil is reported to be the most effective but it isn't organic, Serenade is the most common recommended organic brand and many prefer one of the many copper based fungicides. The choice is yours.
Dave



My eggplants grow slowly and somewhat lanky indoors, and really explode when I get them outside in the ground in the summer heat. Eggplants just like heat, and sun as well. My experience is that when you grow them in the house, it's really just cooler than optimum for growth. But certainly, anything will get leggy if it doesn't have enough light.

A few days off the heat mat and one day of sun and my seedlings look soooo much better. Not taller but the leaves and stems are thicker. Definitely will be able to handle the outdoors soon.
daninthedirt: yes I think you are right, all they were missing was the sun and its warmth. Thank you.
Thank you so much again Dave.
Turtlegardener, thank you!

Unfortunately some of what you are now seeing is due to the spray you used. Especially in the last 2 pics. Too often new gardeners tend to over-react to some holes in the leaves - which happen for all sorts of reasons and most of the time are not an issue - and spray something. Leaves on plants can lose up to 1/2 of their leaf surface without any problems so if you spray many times the spray does more damage than whatever made the holes could do.
That is just as true for homemade concoctions as it is for commercial ones. Indeed in the hands of the under-informed the home made concoctions can do more damage than commercial ones do. In other words, just because it is made from products you have at home doesn't mean it is safe to use on the plants.
I don't see any actual discoloration issues in any of your pics but they are usually nutrient issues rather than pests. The holes in the leaves could be caused by all sort of pests - slugs (have to do nite time patrol to find them) , beetles, tiny caterpillars, even birds. But you have to look carefully for them and ID them first before you spray anything. Most of the time you can find whatever is doing it and just squish it with your fingers.
But if you don't see them it doesn't mean you have to spray something. He may already be done and gone and if you do spray the odds are you are just killing good guys that are trying to help. You remove the damage leaves and continue to monitor it and look for the bad guy. So no need to panic and no need to spray unless it is a really really bad infestation and you know exactly what is doing the damage. Then you find the least damaging control for that specific bad guy.
So in your pics remove the bad leaves off the cuke and nothing more. Remove the very worst of the leaves off the peppers but leave the ones with only minor damage. Leave the beans alone for now. Put the bottle of oils away as the oil only works if it coats the insect but when it coats the leaves it causes them to burn and blacken and prevents photosynthesis.
If you feel you must use a home made spray then I suggest you stick with the soapy water mix of 1 T of mild soap (baby shampoo, Murphy's Oil Soap, liquid Ivory, etc.) in 1 gallon of water, shake well, spray the bugs only and avoid coating the leaves, and only spray in the early AM and never in the bright sun or the heat of the day. Spraying then is almost guaranteed to damage the plants.
Hope this helps.
Dave

Thank you so much Dave - I honestly thought it maybe was the spray because they weren't too bad until I sprayed them with that homemade concoction I got from you tube. It also explains why the other plants seem fine. I will remove the worst leaves as you suggest and maybe just plant some more peppers. I really appreciate it!!



Hey tom, I thought it was just me, but I read that link and went away completely dissatisfied.
This is my first year growing eggplants and I have them planted fairly close.
If I get the chance, next year I'll leave one some extra space and top it after it get's into it's mid-life phase. I wouldn't want to 'sucker' it, as from what I understand, that's where the fruits are borne, but topping would encourage side shoots and lateral branching. I'm thinking that a topped eggplant would need a lot of space.


Yes it can and it is becoming an increasing problem for gardeners - damage to their crops due to herbicide contaminated straw mulch and compost that contains the herbicide contaminated straw.
Plus "certified weed free" isn't needed for garden mulch but it lets them charge more for it.
Dave

Do you use it in your garden? We go back and forth with using it. We also learned of herbicide carryover the hard way after procuring free compost. We had to pull back the top 6 inches of soil and replace it. We still have some symptoms of carryover in our tomatoes 4 years later.

It's considered an excellent wood preservative because it doesn't stain the wood and isn't supposed to leach out. I brushed it on the bottom cut ends of 6X6 fir ramada posts I just mounted and so finally got to use the bottle of the stuff I bought in a moment of weakness. Lumber preservative on food plants has that old EWWW factor, no?

thanks alot for the advice and comments i think i wil just stick with the organic route like i always have ,,, another question though , organic pesticides any favorites out there ?
is just neem oil the way to go ?
this years garden includes , 3 types of tomats , red cabbage , cucumbers , hot peppers sun flowers and herbs .
thanks again
zak



Vgkg--not really fair to try and compare your zone 7 overwintering to a MN winter. I honestly laughed at your mention of 2F. I used to live in NE South Dakota--we still had high school on the day that the daytime high was -47F. Before this devolves into a discussion on walking uphill to school both ways, I'm just trying to say there are major differences. That was unusual, but -30 for at least a night each winter was not, though the OP doesn't list her zone or location--surprising that some wintered.
I think the issue here is day-length as much as temp. My spinach did well this year, in a low Agribon tunnel, but it's just now bolting, and we haven't been warm as normal lately--storms daily. You may like baby chard in your salads, or something like a red Russian kale. Could also try some of the Asian type greens like pac choi harvested early for leaves.
vgkg, good suggestion for fall planting. I actually do that and a good bit of the spinach survives and resumes growing in the spring, even here in MN where we'll usually have some 20 below winter temps. However, this year it also starting bolting almost as soon as it resumed growing fresh leaves. I'm inclined to think my bolting problem this year must have been temp related. Sounds like a good idea to try some other seed companies too.